Majestic Ireland blow Scots away

THE Group of Death finally claimed its victim, as it always would. And in the end the death throes for Scotland were total agony.

- TOM BRADSHAW

So much for the mathematical permutations of qualification from Pool B. Who needs mathematicians when you have Ireland's killer instinct? Yokohama in 2019. Now Paris in 2023. Scotland's hopes of making it to the knock-out stages of a World Cup were vaporised for the second successive tournament by an opposition that ran them off their feet.

In the course of sending Scotland packing, Ireland extended their winning streak to 17. And following on from their muscle-and-hustle win over South Africa, the Stadede France is fast becoming something of a home from-home for the thousands of Irish who once again filled the Parisian air with song.

Ireland's recipe for the past 12 months-plus has been thunderous aggression, stoic calm and clinical execution. And here they were once again: emerald-bright, granite-hard and dagger-sharp.